Numerous devices are known from the prior art, which describe a camera unit, in particular arranged on the tailgate of a vehicle, enabling the acquisition of images of the area behind the vehicle. The resulting image can then be displayed to the driver in the vehicle in order to facilitate reversing operations. To prevent dirtying of the camera unit, it is arranged behind a closure element that can be moved from a closed partition to an open position to enable the acquisition of images by the camera unit. Such a device is known, for example, from publication DE 103 51 363 A1. Moreover, various control units are arranged on modern vehicles, for example, to open the tailgate of a vehicle. From the prior art it is also known that the arrangement of such a control unit with the camera unit in a common apparatus is in the vehicle in order to use as few separate components as possible. The installation of the common apparatus is also facilitated in this way. The disadvantage, however, is that such an apparatus requires a correspondingly larger amount of space.